Ed Hinerman On Life Insurance

Another Risk Factor Of Obesity!!

Just when you think I have beaten the subject of obesity into submission and you are free to get on with life, another risk factor emerges.

A recent study out of Vanderbilt points out that as weight goes up, seat belt use goes down and in case anyone hasn’t caught on yet, there seems to be a direct link between seat belt use and accident survival.

The study acknowledges
that seatbelt use is not a problem associated just with the overweight, but it did show that substantially more overweight and obese people don’t buckle up.

Let’s face it. It seems that there comes a point in the weight rise where a person quits doing the things that are more difficult primarily due to their higher weight. I’ve noticed over the years that many overweight people really don’t have any idea how much they weigh anymore. They guess or they give the last weight they remember, but stepping on a scale is mentally a difficult thing to do.

Exercise gets unreasonably difficult. Walking a mile when a person weighs 200 pounds is one thing, but doing the same thing at 300 or 400 pounds becomes physically difficult. It isn’t just a walk anymore. It is a test of how much your muscle and skeletal system can take. To put that into context, imagine trying to walk a mile with a backpack loaded to equal your body weight. I weigh 175 pounds and I can assure you that I wouldn’t want to try it.

And back to the study. Seat belts are a pain (at least mine are) to put on anyway. Doing the same thing with the added weight and decreased space has to be more difficult.

Bottom line. There are some life insurance companies out there that are very good at coming through with good rates for people who are outside the box when it comes to most build charts. Out of control weight gain has so many potentially devastating impacts on your health and mortality that, if you are still in good health, you should look into life insurance now. When your health starts changing the price goes up.

Add comment January 5th, 2008

Great News In Prostate Cancer Treatment!

Prostate cancer treated in early stages has a high survival rate. Whether by radical prostectomy, radioactive seed implant or external beam radiation therapy, most treatments are succuessful if the cancer is caught early.

More advanced or aggressive prostate cancer is a whole different story. Where the other scenario is all about beating the cancer, the only treatment for advance prostate cancer is hormone therapy and the goal is to slow it down. Hormone therapy is aimed at lowering the level of testosterone. One of the downsides to hormonal therapy has been the potential for increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Now a new treatment protocol calling for a short period of hormone therapy in conjunction with radiation therapy is showing promise both in keeping the cancer at bay and not having cardiovascular side effects. Other side effects such as bone loss, osteoporosis, depression are also lessened.

The thrust of this new treatment protocol, as it was with long term hormone treatment, is to avoid the spread and potential bone metastasis. Once prostate cancer has metastasized to the bone, there is usually very little than can be done. This new protocol has been shown to delay metastasis for over 8 years.

Bottom line. From a life insurance standpoint, a high stage, high grade prostate cancer is really uninsurable with traditional life insurance. The truth is that the cancer is never cured and the treatment never ends. That doesn’t alter the fact that this breakthrough is going to change the quality of life and potentially give more years to many who weren’t very hopeful about either of those things.

1 comment January 5th, 2008